NYU Responds to NYT Tracking Down Their First 2010 Applicant

August 12, 2010

Picture in your mind who you would expect as the first applicant of the year to NYU. What comes to mind? Give up? Well, it was….

…Cree Bautista, a 17-year-old show choir boy (think: Glee) and cross country runner from small-town Texas who wrote his entrance essay based on a high school paper of his titled “It’s Not a Phase.” What? You don’t look shocked.

The fast-acting applicant’s essay begins:

“I grew up in the same neighborhood, in the same house, in the same bedroom, for 10 years. Throughout that decade, I grew into the person I am today, changing who I thought I was just about every five seconds. As I came to terms with what was on the inside, my parents came to realize that no matter what, I was still their son.”

The excerpt the Times posted is a quality piece of writing, and boasting seven AP classes in high school on top of extra curriculars, Bautista’s common app probably stands above the fray for many reasons.

Nonetheless, his path to NYU falls short of surprising, judging by his essay, since it’s no secret that NYU’s student body has a high percentage of gay males and a reputation as the suburban teen’s quintessential “dream school”. Myself (an alum) and co-blogette, Rosie Gray (a current student), can attest to these generalizations! Yet Bautista captured the hearts of a few New York voices yesterday. For example, Chris Rovzar at New York Magazine explained to NYU that “This kid clearly belongs here. What’s it gonna be? You going to let him in, or what?

So what’d they say?

We contacted an undergraduate admissions counselor at NYU, who told Runnin’ Scared that the school gets a wide range of essays (we can only imagine!) because the prompt on the common application is quite vague. As for coming out essays, “We read a lot of those as well,” she said, but, “We dont really keep statistics on that.”

But most importantly, are Bautista’s admission odds improved by the huge publicity coup he garnered with his application swiftness and dexterity? “Honestly, no they’re not,” the admissions counselor said. Bam, there you have it; NYU’s no publicity pushover (well…), but we suspect he’ll get in anyway. Cree Bautista, if you’re out there, let us know how it turns out!